Social Services & Nonprofit IT · Vancouver, BC

IT support for social services and nonprofit organizations in Vancouver

A Vancouver social services or nonprofit organization usually runs on a tighter IT budget than a comparably sized business while holding some of the most sensitive personal information a small organization can handle: client case files that can include health, housing and income detail, and a donor database that funders and the public expect to be handled responsibly. A case management system with weak access control, a donor database with no backup, or a grant funder's data security requirement that nobody has actually verified can each create real exposure for the people an organization serves. Hexafusion supports Lower Mainland social services and nonprofit organizations with practical, budget-aware IT that still meets the standard this sensitive work requires.

Social services and nonprofit systems we support

Privacy and compliance

BC PIPA governs how a nonprofit organization collects, uses and discloses personal information generally, and the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) can apply instead of PIPA for organizations that are funded or operated in a way that brings them under public body rules, which is worth confirming for your specific organization. PIPEDA applies alongside provincial law for activities in the course of commercial activity. Client case files frequently include health, housing or income information that deserves particularly careful access control, and many funders attach their own data security requirements as a condition of grant funding that go beyond general privacy law. This is general information, not legal advice.

Common IT problems we fix for social services and nonprofit organizations

• Case files with weak or no access control. Client case information visible to staff who do not need it for their role. We implement role-based access matched to your program structure.
• Donor database with no verified backup. Years of donor history and giving records sitting on a system nobody has tested restoring from. We build in automated, tested backup.
• Funder data security requirements never actually verified. A grant agreement that requires specific data handling standards your organization has not confirmed it meets. We review and help close the gap.
• Shared logins across program staff. Makes it impossible to produce an audit trail of who accessed a client file. We set up individual, logged accounts within a realistic budget.
• Remote and multi-site staff with inconsistent access. Community-based staff unable to reliably access client systems from the field. We configure secure remote access that works for how your staff actually operate.
• No IT ownership on a lean nonprofit budget. Most organizations this size have no dedicated IT role and limited budget for one, which is exactly where client data protection gaps persist. We provide that function at a scale that fits a nonprofit budget.

How AI can improve your work

• Grant and funder report drafting. AI tools can draft a first-pass narrative report from program outcome data for a program manager to review and finalize. Privacy safeguard: Export program data only into systems your organization controls; verify every figure before a report reaches a funder.
• Donor communication drafting. Copilot can draft donor thank-you letters and newsletter updates from a fundraising coordinator's notes, reviewed before sending. Privacy safeguard: Draft inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, not a public chatbot, since donor giving history is sensitive personal and financial information.
• Case note summarization. AI can help summarize lengthy case notes into a cleaner file entry for a caseworker to review and finalize. Privacy safeguard: Client case data should only flow through a tool your organization has reviewed for data handling, never a free public tool, given its sensitivity.
• Volunteer coordination drafting. AI tools can draft routine volunteer scheduling and recruitment communications, reviewed before sending. Privacy safeguard: Keep volunteer personal information inside your own managed systems.
• Policy and procedure drafting. AI-assisted first drafts of internal policy updates from a program director's notes, reviewed before adoption. Privacy safeguard: General policy drafting is lower risk, but avoid referencing specific client situations in any draft processed outside your controlled systems.

How Hexafusion helps

We start with an AI readiness assessment that looks at where program and administrative staff could use AI tools without exposing client case data, sized to a realistic nonprofit budget. We set up Copilot and other approved AI tools securely inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, configure data protection so client and donor information cannot leak into a public AI model, and train staff on safe use. For organizations that want to go further, we build custom assistants, including our own AI phone assistant for intake and general inquiry call handling. Any AI build-out beyond basic setup and training is scoped and quoted as its own separate project.

Which plan usually fits

Many social services and nonprofit organizations start on Foundation given budget constraints, with help desk billed by the hour as needed. Organizations that want day-to-day IT fully handled, which is most that carry an active caseload, typically move to Managed, our generally recommended plan, which includes unlimited remote help desk during business hours (subject to our Fair Use Policy) and onboarding and offboarding support for staff and program turnover. Organizations under funder data security requirements, or handling particularly sensitive case data, often move to Secure, which adds onsite support. Onsite support is included only on our Secure and Enterprise plans; remote-only plans do not include a site visit. After-hours response, a quarterly vCIO review and ongoing testing are Enterprise-only. Servers, including any on-premises server or always-on cloud server you want us to manage, are an add-on and are not included in any plan. See plans for full details.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reviewed by Alex Barari, Founder, former PCI DSS Internal Security Assessor (ISA).

Related industries we support

Alongside social services and nonprofit organizations, see nonprofit IT support. See the full list on industries we serve.

Compliance baseline behind every Hexafusion engagement

Social services and nonprofit organization IT support is delivered against a documented baseline aligned to the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security baseline controls and current cyber-insurance underwriting expectations.

• Identity and access: Microsoft Entra ID with Conditional Access, multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforced on every account, compliant-device sign-in.
• Endpoint protection: Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) on every device, deployed before the user receives the laptop.
• Disk encryption: BitLocker on Windows, FileVault on Mac, with central key escrow.
• Backup and recovery: Managed backups with documented retention and periodic restore tests.
• Privacy aware: Audit logging, role-based access, and a breach-response process kept current with Office of the Privacy Commissioner guidance.

Who you actually work with

Hexafusion is led by founder Alex Barari, a former PCI DSS Internal Security Assessor with 15+ years in enterprise IT and cybersecurity. Every engagement is supported by the same Vancouver-based team that designs the security baseline, reviews the alerts, and shows up on-site when remote troubleshooting reaches its limit.